Bb is for Bird
A week of birdwatching in your homeschool.
— March 14, 2024
What is Bb is for Bird?
Do your kids love birds? Mine do – we’re constantly pointing out the Towhee pecking away in the yard. We also enjoy spotting the Brown Thrasher hiding among the bushes. It took a few years to have my eldest boy, Marty, be as excited as I was about bird watching. After the week of Bb is for Bird he now keeps an eye out for birds and will enthusiastically say, “Momma, there’s a cardinal by the compost!” Thanks to the lessons, my second child, Mick, is also excited about seeing birds in our yard.
I encourage you to check out the entirely free Bb is for Bird, because your child will have a new appreciation for birds. I’ve learned so much too with their observations. I research a species if I do not recognize it, that way I can identify it when my boys ask.
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A free preschool curriculum.
In the week of Bb is for Bird you’ll find activity suggestions that center around observing birds in nature. The books and poems all offer something different. For instance, Birdsong by Audrey Wood features the various calls different species of birds make and the life cycle of a bird is found in Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, Nest Eggs from A Child’s Garden of Verses. Additionally, the printable assists to extend the enrichment side of the theme into color recognition and the coloring pages reinforce your child’s recognition of the letter.
Bb is for Bird is part of a larger program, Letter of the Week. Each week is similar in style but completely different in theme and activities.
Birdwatching lessons for a week of learning.
Bb is for Bird is the second week of Letter of the Week. Here is a glimpse of how to use it in your home:
Monday highlight: Read bird books
Mondays stay pretty relaxed in our home. I introduced Mick to his new letter “B” with the alphabet puzzle. Then, the train car from the wall display printable, you can check that out here. Also available are two other wall displays featuring a caterpillar or acorns.
The train car includes upper and lower case letters to color. Mick used markers, his favorite art tool, and hung it on the wall. The first time with Marty it depended on how the day was going if we painted. Painting was a lot more frequent when I had only 2 boys. Now we keep it simple and Mick chooses between markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
After hanging it on the wall we sang the alphabet and then read Mrs. Peanuckle’s Bird Alphabet board book. While we remained on the couch we enjoyed other themed bird book suggestions. Then, we recited our memory poem, Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson.
To end, we practiced number recognition with Apple Math using numbers, 0-3. You can read more about Apple Math here.
Tuesday highlight: Pinecone bird feeders
Alphabet letter recognition will be lost if you do not review with your child. Please, do not skip this part! Our review began with the train wall display today. I first sing through the alphabet and point at the first two letters we have on our wall and then just dance with my kiddo through the rest of the letters. Then once we finish the alphabet song I reiterate the “A, B” portion, since it’s so short, and have him repeat after me. No puzzle today because I was excited to go hunting in the woods, for pinecones!
Mick loves that his Letter of the Week is all about him but he also enjoys his brothers participating.
Once we finished selecting 2 pinecones per kiddo, we made it back to the house in record time. The boys were so excited to make the bird feeders. Marty has completed this activity before so he knew it was fun! If you wish to read about this activity more in depth and complete it with your children, check out the post How to Make Pinecone Bird Feeders.
Mick and Mo colored coloring pages while Marty and I assembled everything. I placed it all on cookie trays so I could easily carry it outside to the picnic table because it can get messy.
The boys smeared peanut butter on the pinecones and then rolled it in the bird seed. Once they finished, I tied it with twine and we hung them out on our bushes.
Wednesday Highlight: Craft bird watching binoculars
When completing letter of the week there are techniques for using the alphabet puzzle for review. In the beginning, like this week, I sit down with Mick and help him place each letter, A-Z, having him repeat the letter after me. As weeks progress I eliminate the letters we have not learned and only focus on the letters he has learned. Your child will also become more independent with knowing where the letter goes and its name.
After review we read our themed books and recited our memory poem. I waited until Mo went down for his nap to complete the activity with Mick.
I brought out the craft supplies for making tp tube binoculars once Mo was asleep. While I did this Mick and Marty both colored the second coloring page and listened to “Rock-in Robin” by Bobby Day
These binoculars require a bit of hands on to assemble but then your child can color them with markers to decorate. We skipped this part because my boys were too eager to use them. We tied the string on the binoculars and went to our window to see if there were birds by the pinecone bird feeders. There was a female and male cardinal but they took off very quickly. If you’d like full instructions for making these fun binoculars read it here at How to Make Binoculars for Birdwatching.
The boys played in the shade anyways and if I noticed a bird I pointed it out to the boys. They eagerly looked through their binoculars.
Thursday highlight: Bird Color Matching printable
Review was more practice with the alphabet puzzle and also singing through the alphabet with our wall display.
More cuddles on the couch with our bird themed books and memory poem. Once we finished that we used the Bird Color Matching printable to practice Mick’s color recognition. We completed Bb is for Bird by all four of us going on a walk with our binoculars. The boys were not exactly stealthy and as a result never saw any, but they listened for them and moved in the direction they heard their calls come from.
Fridays
The last day of our week is reserved for homeschool co-op nature group. No formal Letter of the Week lessons -just the great outdoors and curious minds.
A Week’s Schedule at a Glance:
Child Approved
Letter of the Week activities are designed to adapt to your family. If you’d prefer to make the binoculars on the first activity day and then make bird feeders the next, that’s great! It can also be handy to keep this in mind in case it’s raining. I didn’t want to worry about the binoculars being ruined before we had a chance to use them with the bird feeders so I chose to make the bird feeders first.
Overall, this was a wonderful week. My boys enthusiastically embraced every single activity and are still using their binoculars, and checking on the pinecones. They developed an appreciation for bird watching during this week. I’m really looking forward to next week Cc is for Caterpillar, there’s some fun activities planned like reenacting a butterfly’s life cycle!
If you haven’t downloaded Bb is for Bird, I encourage you to explore it and see how it might enrich your home. Check it out here:
And do not forget to check out the entire Letter of the Week curriculum if these activities inspire you and you are looking for more great ideas.
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